February 2011

February 25, 2011

Texas lawmakers are considering legislation that would allow concealed handgun license holders to carry weapons on campus and in classrooms.

"This is about self-defense," said San Antonio Republican Senator Jeff Wentworth, the legislation's sponsor. "It's about protecting lives of students who are totally vulnerable and defenseless and able to be picked off by a deranged shooter, as was the case in Virginia."

Wentworth was referring to the 2007 massacre at Virginia Tech when student Seung-Hui Cho shot and killed 32 people. It was the deadliest school shooting in U.S. history. The second-deadliest happened in 1966 at the University of Texas, where Charles Whitman killed 16 and wounded 31.

Not everybody thinks this is a good idea, including Colin Goddard, a Virginia Tech student who was shot four times by Cho but survived. He's currently visiting campuses in the Lone Star State and urging lawmakers to say no.

If Texas approves the law, it would become the second state, after Utah, to pass such a law. Eight other states — Arizona, Tennessee, Michigan, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Florida, Nebraska and Mississippi — reportedly are considering "campus carry" legislation.

February 23, 2011

Chuck Long, the former San Diego State coach who earned more than $700,000 annually at the school from 2006-09, is facing foreclosure on his Poway, Calif., home next month, according to the San Diego Union-Tribune.

Long, 48, is now the offensive coordinator at Kansas. He bought the four-bedroom house in 2007 for $1.38 million, but it was recently assessed at $893,000.

Long told the newspaper that the foreclosure situation was "news to me" and said he's in escrow with a potential buyer. A real estate agent said a short sale was being attempted before a scheduled March 23 auction.

Long had a 9-27 record in three seasons as Aztec coach before he was reassigned in November 2008. He still had two years left on his contract and after settlement talks went nowhere, the university paid him $715,000 in 2009 to do "projects and analysis."

San Diego State's financial burden was lessened in December 2009 when Long was hired by Kansas' Turner Gill. Kansas paid Long $350,000 in 2010 and San Diego State picked up $365,900 to complete terms of its five-year deal.

Long, a former Iowa quarterback and Heisman Trophy runnerup in 1985, defaulted on his payments last August. On Nov. 23, a notice of default was filed in San Diego County.